


Unexplored Territories

by Serahne



Series: Komahina Week 2017 [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Gen, It's for the Komahina Week, but Komaeda isn't here so, post-sdr2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-25 02:04:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12025779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serahne/pseuds/Serahne
Summary: “He is the first one to wake up, he thinks. He isn’t sure if it’s logical or ironic, or both. He just knows that him being the first doesn’t mean anything if he ends up being the last one to open his eyes.“





	Unexplored Territories

Hinata wakes up first, in a crowded, overheated room, with unknown faces smiling at him and talking to him in a language his brain doesn’t immediately understand - even when he finally manages to decide that the language is japanese and that he has been using it for his entire life, it’s like words don’t really reach him. It’s just noise, useless rattle, and he just wants to sleep.

So he does. He closes his eyes, and goes back to the darkness, which is so much easier and comfortable than being awake.

 

*

 

When he wakes up again, the room is a lot more silent and the only person with him is somehow familiar : Makoto Naegi, Ultimate Hope, member of Future Foundation, the person he probably wouldn’t be alive without, his brain provides. These considerations don’t provoke the slightest emotion in him.

“Good morning, Hajime” Naegi says, smiling.

He is tired - the dark circles under his eyes are the proof that he didn’t sleep a lot these last few days, but his smile is genuine, Hinata thinks. Naegi is the kind of person who is always sincere when he smiles.

He nods in the other’s direction, to acknowledge his presence, without putting his voice to the test. Naegi’s smile widens a little.

“I thought you would enjoy being transferred in the hospital yard. The wake-up room is… not the quietest place on the island, especially with you being the first to regain consciousness.”

_The first_ , Hinata thinks, with some surprise. He doesn’t know how to feel about it.

“What about…” his voice makes him cringe. It’s gravelly and hurts his throat on its way out. “What about the others ? Owari and ( once again, he has the frustrating feeling that his brain is letting him down, and the names he is looking for escape his tongue )... the others ?”

Naegi notices his hesitation but doesn’t say anything about it.

“At first we thought Souda Kazuichui would be the one to come back to us - he showed a cerebral activity very early. But it seems that they need more time.” He explains patiently.

“But… even if it takes more time… they’ll come back, right ?”

The other’s smile turns tense.

“I hope so.”

Hinata wants to snort at the answer, but he doesn’t have the energy. So he just nods, listening absent-mindedly Naegi telling him about the doctors, and the therapy sessions, and how _because he is the first_ , his participation to tests will be absolutely necessary for the well-being of the others. Hinata says yes to everything and promises to help as much as he can, anything to make Naegi leaves as soon as possible.

“Ah, Hajime” he says before leaving “I don’t know if that’s the best idea Byakuya ever had, but he thinks that giving you the recording of everything that happened on the island could help. Not now, obviously, but whenever you’re ready.”

“Sure”

And then he is gone, and Hinata is left alone, and he lets out a relieved sigh.

He is the first one to wake up, he thinks. He isn’t sure if it’s logical or ironic, or both. He just knows that him being the first doesn’t mean anything if he ends up being the last one to open his eyes.

 

*

 

Therapy sessions go as well as expected : the doctor Mikage is nice and competent and patient, and she doesn’t treat him as child, which he appreciates. But he isn’t sure where she is trying to take him. He doesn’t mind talking about the killing game, or the Tragedy, or anything else, but he can see in the doctor’s eyes that he still isn’t doing what he is supposed to do.

“What do you feel when you think about it ?” she asks him, one day, when he is talking about Pekoyama’s execution, and Kuzuryu’s tears.

He remembers this trial more clearly than the others. He doesn’t have any ‘black hole’ in his memory, as far as he can tell, but some moments are clearer than others, without discernable reason. Tsumiki’s trial, for example, is like a big, blurry thing, like a movie he saw, once, when he was half-asleep already, with the sounds too loud and a plot he doesn’t pay a lot of attention to. For these moments, the videos helped a lot.

“I don’t know” Hinata replies honestly. “It was sad, I guess.”

“You guess ?”

Mikage looks at him, a thoughtful look on her face, her pen tapping against her notebook, as always when she is trying to understand what’s going on inside his head - he wishes her good luck with that, himself doesn’t know how his brain works most of the time.

“I don’t… feel connected to that ?” he tries to explain. “Does that make sense ? Maybe because I know that it was all fake, anyway, but even if I remember what happened or even how I felt then… it just doesn’t translate in my brain”

“It does make sense, don’t worry Hinata.”

She writes something on her notebook.

“Is it normal ?” He asks, and he can’t help but sound anxious.

She smiles at the question, as if to say it’s a silly one, and Hinata relaxes just a little at the gesture.

“First, I have to tell you that I’m not working with you with my usual tools. You went through so much that it’s a mystery how your psyche managed to not collapse on itself, and you did it by yourself. But to answer your question : Yes, it’s perfectly normal. You just woke up, Hinata. You’re the first one. Give yourself some time.”

_You’re the first one._

He nods and Mikage starts talking about the videos.

“Did you watch them ?” She inquires. “It’s alright if you didn’t, by the way. I actually think it may be a little early for you, but if you did watch them, I would like to talk to you about them.”

Hinata stays silent for a while.

“Some of them ?” He says. “The ones where I’m in it, just to be sure that I hadn’t forgotten anything. It would just be weird to spy on everyone else.”

He almost did, the first day. The first video he watched was inside the Funhouse, the moment where Komaeda entered the Final Dead Room, and for one second, curiosity almost got him. It didn’t, though. He would show some respect to his sleeping comrades, even Komaeda. Who was the only one who had shown absolutely no cerebral activity in the two months he had been awake.

He felt something fall into his stomach.

_You’re the first one._

“So, no one else ?” She smiles, starting to write in her notebook again.

“No. Well, Nanami.” He admits, avoiding the doctor’s eyes. “It’s just, I knew her from before the Tragedy, so I thought watching her would help me.”

It was the truth, but not the entire truth. He knew Nanami from before the Tragedy, sure, but the clearest memory he has from his time as Izuru Kamukura has her in it, and it is a memory full of surprise. It is Kamukura's tears, in front of this dying girl he didn’t know. These tears were the only link between Hinata and Kamukura at this time, as if Kamukura had suddenly realized that one part of his existence didn’t entirely belong to him.

It has been… earth-shattering. Enough to have the image of Chiaki Nanami’s corpse permanently printed on his brain. Bless Izuru Kamukura’s perfect memory.

“So, did it help ?” Mikage asks, bringing him back to their current discussion.

“No” Hinata admits with a shrug. “I didn’t learn anything about her either. When we weren’t around, she was just… not doing anything. I don’t know what I expected.”

“Answers, maybe ?” the doctor says. “No one is going to give them to you, so you might as well look for them yourself. You are doing very well, Hinata. Believe me, I was a little anxious to take this job, you know. I wasn’t sure I would be able to help you, if you had woken up as Izuru Kamukura - _I know what you are thinking Hinata, let me say it_. Especially since you are the first one, it was really a shot in the dark. But you are doing well, even if you can’t see it.”

Hinata doesn’t know what to say.

“Thank you” he replies. “It’s just not easy. Being the first one. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t, and that I just had to follow a pre-established path instead of trying to make my own through the forest.”

“That’s a nice metaphor” the doctor laughs a little. “A accurate one, I would say. But all things considered, I’m glad you are my partner in this adventure. You are not the worst person to work with on building our own path.”

The atmosphere is lighter than before, he notices. The session is almost over, and Mikage isn’t taking notes anymore. He doesn’t mind her doing her job, but he likes this idea of partnership too.

“Well, I guess” he says, laughing too. “You got the normal one, huh ? What if Tanaka has woken up first ? Or Owari ? Or Komaeda ?”

The therapist is shaking with laughter, now, hiding her mouth behind her hand. She is probably imagining herself, walking through the forest while Komaeda is making his best to have them both eaten by whatever creature lives here.

“I can’t even imagine. But I would lie if I said that one part of me isn’t impatient to work with them. I hope they’ll wake up soon.”

“Yeah” Hinata says. “I can’t wait to really being the first one instead of the only one.”

When he meets the doctor eyes after that, she is watching him with something that looks like pride, and it’s an unusual feeling for him.

“You are doing very well, Hajime Hinata” she says.

And for the first time in two months, he can actually believe it.


End file.
